Leap - 02(16)

Clay gave her a hug. “We left early, and Borger is working on something at the moment.” He glanced at his watch regretfully. “We’re due back in D.C. in five hours.”

Alison tried to hide her disappointment. “Well, I’m glad you made a stopover.”

“It’s the least I could do.” Clay squeezed her tight and looked up over her shoulder. “Hi, Chris.”

“Hello, John. How are you?”

“A little tired, but good, thank you.”

Chris was closest to Caesare and he reached out a hand to him. “Mr. Caesare. It’s nice to see you again.”

Caesare shook Chris’ hand and almost scoffed. “Come on Chris, I’m not that old yet.” He winked. “Clay makes me seem older.”

“Well, well, look what the cat dragged in.” They all turned to see DeeAnn looking at Caesare as she entered the room. She had met him several times before. The two had instantly fallen into a friendly but rather sarcastic relationship. “How did we get so lucky?”

Caesare raised an eyebrow at her. “Ah, Dr. Draper. What a pleasure. You’re looking…older.”

After what seemed like a long moment, they smiled at each other playfully and laughed. DeeAnn flicked his thick, muscular arm as she passed. She turned warmly to Clay. “Nice to see you again, John.”

“Good morning, DeeAnn,” Clay said. “How are things going with Dulce?”

“We’re making excellent progress, thank you. In fact, the translations are coming faster and faster. Your girl here,” she said, with a wink at Alison, “runs quite a ship.”

Clay didn’t see the nervous look Alison gave DeeAnn after being referred to as John’s “girl.”

“So,” Clay said. “I take it the test went well, judging by the look on everyone’s face.”

“It was flawless,” Alison beamed. “Lee and Juan are upstairs checking things out. It was only for about five minutes, but it worked perfectly.”

“I’m not surprised,” Clay nodded. “I guess that means it’s a “go” for your big trip.”

“Hopefully. We still have more testing to do, but assuming we don’t have any major problems, we’re set to leave in a few days. So cross your fingers. I think Dirk and Sally are getting impatient.”

“This is very cool, Alison,” Caesare said, folding his arms. “Translation out in open water is exciting stuff.” He flashed her a devilish grin. “Come to think of it, maybe you could use some help from a couple old ‘sea dogs.’”

Clay laughed. He could imagine Langford’s reaction.

Caesare held up a hand in an innocent gesture. “Hey, let’s not forget Alison’s got some pull with the Admiral.”

Alison remained close to Clay, smiling, but said nothing. It was true, she still had a few favors to call in, but that wasn’t something you did lightly with Admiral Langford. No, she was saving her favors for a very rainy day. Not one involving Caesare lounging around on her boat and soaking up the sun with a beer in his hand. She liked Steve Caesare a lot. He was both tough and smart, but from what she’d heard, parties had a habit of finding him.

She turned and looked up at Clay. “So, how much time do you have before you have to leave for D.C.?”

“Probably a couple of hours.”

Caesare watched her frown with a look of mild disappointment. He rolled his eyes. “Oh, for crying out loud. Why don’t you two get out of here? I’ll hang out with my pal DeeAnn.” He gave her a wink. “Besides, I want to have a look at this new portable unit the boys have created.”

Clay looked down at her with raised eyebrows. “What do you say to an early lunch?”

“I would love that.”

“Just make sure you have him back on time.”

Clay nodded to Caesare, waved to the others, and grabbed Alison’s hand. “I’m all yours.”

Wasting no time, they headed for the outside door. She flung it open and pulled him outside into the bright sunshine. She paused for a few moments, letting the large metal door close behind them with a loud “click.” Before Clay could say anything, Alison pulled him close and kissed him.





11





Caesare followed DeeAnn back through the hallway to the habitat. She punched her code in and pushed the door open, then held it a moment for Caesare. As the two stepped up onto a gentle mound, they spotted Dulce sitting on the ground, playing with a large wooden game board. She promptly looked up and stared at Caesare.

“There’s my girl!” he called out.

Ecstatic, Dulce jumped up and covered the distance quickly, leaping into his big arms.